Yet impartial journalism is remarkably resilient, despite the mocking and stereotyping it has endured. There's plenty of room for other models, but it's worth recognizing the value impartiality delivers.

In the early 1990s the media identified an existential threat: violent crime. But violent crime was actually on the decline in the early '90s -- including a 4 percent drop from 1993 to '94. Thus journalistic malpractice led to policy malpractice, with consequences we continue to live with today.

Objectivity is seeing and accepting things as they are without projecting your fears, mental models, and past experiences, and responding thoughtfully and deliberately to the people, challenges and opportunities in your life.

Ethics on every level are best upheld when there is oversight. If it works for corporate leaders, the general public and government officials, it should also work for those in the media. Self-supervision has rarely proved objective or effective.

Is it really a good thing for journalism to expect reporters to be empty vessels simply reiterating information from others? This defeats the very purpose of media as fourth estate, as a watchdog of the powers that be.

Is someone who is straight (or closeted) any better able to cover a gay story? Every reporter has a long list of bias points. It is time we shatter this notion that being part of a minority group means you should not be able to cover that group.

Until the UN Human Rights Council stops turning a blind eye to the myriad abuses occurring elsewhere, focusing nearly all of its resources on attacking one nation, it will continue to be impossible to take seriously.